This Speke car was first registered on 2nd August 1976 by the first owner, who kept it for almost a full year before selling to his friend on the 1st August 1977 - the previous owner!

The car is in amazing condition having been resprayed some 20 years ago with the current owner only using it occasionally for local trips to the shop, and shows in its low 50k miles.

It has the original 4-speed gearbox & axle, and is a non-sunroof model in Carmine Red.

The car comes with Wolfrace wheels that were installed in 1977 and includes the original wheels & tyres that came off when the car was almost a year old.

As the photos show, it has been resprayed - but done in the early 1990's & included some changes like full colour to the sills, along with later decals. The under-bonnet bolts/nuts/fixings were also painted but this may have helped stop the water reaching parts that rust easy!

It comes with the original plug leads, spare wheel (never used), and a spotless interior. It also has aftermarket drilled/slotted brake discs.

I also like the rear deck cover that the current owner made and installed.

There are many good points to the car, including the current owners long ownership who has also been a member of the TR Register, TR Drivers & TSSC - having owned a TR6 and 3.0l Capri before the TR7.

Although the car comes with 9 months MOT & 8 months TAX there are a number of negative points that will need sorting straight away:

1. Steering rack is in bad condition, with split covers and lots of play (was mentioned on MOT) - easy job.2. Rear axle very, very noisy and needs replacing - could be expensive!3. Brakes not great, and vibration that could be due to steering rack4. Slight electrical issue with indicators & rev counter5. Some detailing needs to be reverted back to 1976 spec.

UPDATE - September 2013

As the steering was poor and didn't want to use it as it was, I decided to replace some of the parts straight away. I had an early spare steering rack in the garage so have now installed this along with new track rod ends, new bushes in the column and bulkhead, and new steering knuckles. The steering is now as expected with only a small wobble at 50! This is likely to be slight wear in the used rack but will see after other jobs done.

I have just ordered complete new suspension and rubber bushes so will be rebuilding front and rear parts over the next few weeks. This should mean the car goes as good as it looks, as it has been well cared for but all parts are still original so feel replacing them will transform the car (as it did when I did the same on my Java FHC). All parts are standard/OE that are going on as these early 4 speed cars don't get driven hard and feel any future owner would prefer to do their own upgrades.

Have now replaced and refurbished the front offside suspension and brakes. Have also painted the inner wheel arches and looking good, and already started on the nearside.

Have replaced the old ignition system with a new electronic Accuspark system along with new coil & plugs. Also sorted the connections so the tacho works again (turns out someone connected the wire to the wrong terminal on the old coil).

UPDATE - April 2014

Replaced the air filter with K&N's but saving them so can easily go back to standard (the only non-standard parts will be the exhaust, air filter &electronic ignition. The wheels were installed in 1977 so happy to keep them on (have the original wheels as spares. Of course, some paint is different in parts (as well as a different shade of Carmine) but will look at this if any paint work is done in the future - like the sills for example.

Checked the tyres this week and they are quite old (at least 15 years old) and 3 are remoulds so decided to replace them all. The current ones were 185's so gone back to 175's.

Decided to overhaul the cooling system as well as a precaution as the pipes feel stiff and original, so have removed the radiator and support and have flushed and re-painted with satin smoothrite and have sprayed the radiator top mounts and fan guarge with aluminium paint. New pipes and gaskets to go back on this weekend.

(I have been using the car in between the work being done, and if not ready I have used the green FHC)

Built in the 1980's professionally by SS preperations as a period TR8 rally car, and judging by the stack of previous receipts to go with the car , it must have been maintained properly too. Looks to have all the right bits fitted. Goes and sounds very well.

Though not one of the famous Works rally TR7s, `KDU 487N' does have the same `KDU' prefix to its registration number and is understood to have been used by Triumph to test their five-speed gearbox, which became standard-fit from mid-1976. Built in 1975 and originally Dark Green in colour, the car's first private owner was Ken Wood. After 11 events, Wood and co-driver Peter Brown apparently rolled on the Devilla stage of the Bank of Scotland Rally, necessitating a complete rebuild. Triumph's Competition Department evidently supplied a brand new `Rally TR8' bodyshell that had been specially created for the Works team by Safety Devices. It was seam-welded with a full cage secured to the screen pillars and roof panel and featured heavy-duty axle location brackets, Panhard rod tower, quick-lift jacking points and lightweight panels.

Following the re-shell, `KDU 487N' won its class on the Burmah and Trossachs rallies, and came 4th on the Bowmaker and 8th on the Galloway Hills events. From 12 outings in 1979, it won the Kingdom Stages rally outright, came 4th on the Bank of Scotland and Burmah rallies and achieved another class win on the Trossachs. TheTriumph was first painted in its current Works livery in 1980 and resprayed again last year. The car is reportedly powered by a Don Moore 16-valve Dolomite Sprint unit, as supplied to the Works in 1975. It is mated to an LT77 five-speed, close-ratio Works gearbox. The remaining specification includes: a 4HA axle with limited slip differential and strengthened arms, fresh FIA compliant FT3 bag tank (with certificate), fully aeroquiped fuel system, up-to-date FIA competition seats/harnesses, plumbed-in electronic fire extinguisher system and heated windscreen. The brakes feature AP 4-pot calipers front/Girling 2-pot units rear. The handbrake is hydraulic and the pedal box is adjustable for bias. Struts and dampers are Bilstein, the anti-roll bar is heavy-duty with alloy mounting spacers. The steering rack is high-ratio.

RVL 506R is a Speke built car (Registered 14/10/1976, VIN ACG3115) and came with full service history, which I have continued with, and had 64,000 miles (with a replacement engine at 30,000 miles). I purchased off the second owner in Sunderland, who had bought from the original owner via Simon Robinson in Darlington.

Jobs done since buying in 2010:

New coolant hoses

New clutch

New wiper wheels and refurbished wiper motor

Replacement carburettor mountings

New rear springs

New rear shock absorbers

New rear suspension rubbers/bushes

Replacement front struts

New front discs

New front bearings

New front springs

New front shock absorbers

New front suspension rubbers/bushes

New front ball joints

New front TR7 logo (replaced the laurel leaf logo)

New track rod ends

Replacement brake calipers

New front brake lines

New window winders

Replacement rear window seal

Refurbished white roof lining

Refurbished lower screen panel

New battery

Added original steel wheels and black plastic centres

Cleaned and painted wheel arches and underneath

Professionally had the engine taken out, skimmed head & block, and new head gaskets and water pump.

New coil, points and condenser (05/2013)

New Accuspark electronic ignition inc. coil & plugs (07/2013)

Replaced exhaust (02/2014)

This car is being used daily so all work is done evenings & weekends and although there was little wrong I've been replacing all the parts that are 30 years old with new parts to ensure I can continue using every day ! It was working fine when purchased in 2010 but trying to get everything restored/renewed/refurbished to standard spec. whilst in use.

February 2013 Update:

End of last summer I had some overheating issues that turned out to be a head gasket problem. Considering the engine was new only 30,000 miles ago and also had the head off only 5000 miles ago and been serviced and looked after since was a surprise. Once the head was off again it became obvious the last garage had caused some damage to the faces of the block and head, which brought the earlier demise. I have since had the block and head re-skimmed with new water pump and housing, and all new gaskets. Car is back on the road with new MOT and tax and went to the local TR Register meet in it, being the first this year to turn up in a TR !

Summer 2013 Update:

Fortunately nothing major to note, although have been using the car whilst waiting for the V8 DHC to be completed (new engine). Drove to the TR Drivers Club at Billing in this car and ran faultless for 550 miles, including sat in very very hot temperatures for an hour on the way back. Not a budge from the temperature gauge!

Autumn/Winter 2013

Bought another TR7 so have been working on that for 3 months, but still using this one and still going good. Exhaust went at the back but I had a spare one so replaced the system with a good used one. Has now (February) just passed an MOT with no advisories but did need a rear wheel brake cylinder. Has now been re-taxed and because the other TR7 is on the road after a rebuild one has to go - and it is this one. Sad times but can't keep 4 TR7's and the other TR7 I've recently rebuilt is red (preferrable colour to me) and slightly earlier build.

Have driven the car today to work and can confirm that it is a great car to drive - these being the good bits:

12 months MOT (until March 2015) - no advisories

6 month TAX (until end of August)

Very standard 1976 4-speed car (standard apart from the stealth electronic ignition - that has been wired so you can revert back to points without any wires having been cut)

Got extensive service history from new

Been on the road most years since 1976

Low number of owners (I'm the third)

Excellent engine (having had a lot of work over the years, the latest proper job of new head gasket and skimmed head/block should see this going for many years)

Excellent gearbox & clutch (clutch was replaced and bedded in nicely)

No noisy rear axle/diff

Solid temperature, stays where it should and the heater works without any leaks

Great brakes that stop you in a straight line without any deviation

No speed wobble on the steering even up to the 75mph I've gone to (we all know how this can affect many TR7's, but not this one)

New wheels and tyres

Handbrake works!

Good interior

Hand a lot of work over the years I've owned it - see list above.

Very reliable car - in fact I'd be comfortable driving the country end-to-end in this

Bad bits:

Some bodywork requires attention around the wheel arches and rear deck - may require a full respray.

Engine bay could do with some tidying around where some previous welding and plating has been done (needs grinding back and re-painting)

Brief History

I have owned my Triumph TR7V8 since 1990 when it was just a normal 2.0L car in persian aqua with blue check seats and 75,000mls under its belt. After a couple of years of daily use I decided to get some work done on the inner wheel arch & turrets. I started to strip down the engine bay and before I knew it, I was left with a rolling shell! At this point I bought another TR7, a FHC just to get by whilst the DHC was being restored.

Every bit of rusty metal was then cut out and new metal welded in using a mixture of second hand original parts, original new parts and many repair panels from Robsport. This was all done around 1995 by a local bodyshop. The body was then painted in BMW Orient Blue (Pearlescent). Since I had had the car 12 months between getting it back from the bodyshop, rebuilding the car and taking it back for the final polish, the shine does not last as long as I would have hoped, but 6 years on I can't complain too much. As for the rest of the rebuild, that was down to me.